Kole tang - return or stick in 55g

[Claus84]

Hi all, I've had a 3" yellow eye kole in my 90g reef for a couple of months now and its undoubtedly the boss of the tank. It occasionally spars with my flame angel and bangaii but they pretty much stick up for themselves. I've noticed recently though that my mandarin is a lot less active than it was, spending quite alot of time sitting in a corner. The kole is not overtly aggressive towards it, but being an active and fairly erratic swimmer i believe its stressing the mandarin out and want to act now before the mandy starts to lose weight.

I have two options return it to my LFS or stick it in my 55g fowlr (48x15x18) .

Fowlr is currently running fallow but my coral beauty and orchid dottyback will be going back in it, while these are both fairly capable of defending themselves I'm a little concerned the kole might lay the smackdown in the smaller tank. I hate returning fish to my lfs as I have visions of it ending up in a 3ft tank somewhere but will do it if its the best option.

It wouldn't be in the 55g indefinitely as I'm upgrading to a 280g but that's a good 12-18 months off.

I'd appreciate any thoughts

cheers

Nick

 

[jsker]

I vote for a re home

#reefsquad ??

 

[ihavecrabs]

Yeah, with the upgrade that far off I'd re-home too.

Do you have a good community near-by you can reach out to gauge interest? I feel that way you get more of a say in who gets it and what size tank it ends up in. There are quite a few UK reefers on R2R as well, might be worth a try.

GL

 

[shred5]

I would worry the manadrin being more lethargic might have nothing to do with the kole. Mandarins are poisonous and taste real bad to other fish so they really have nothing to worry about.

Is he fat or real skinny.. Usually when I see them get lethargic not moving around like they used to they are dying or starving.

 

[DLHDesign]

I vote for a re home

Agree. Which is a rough choice to make, but I think the right one. If the upgrade were closer, I'd side with keeping it, but as it is; that's a long time...

 

[Claus84]

Yeah, with the upgrade that far off I'd re-home too.

Do you have a good community near-by you can reach out to gauge interest? I feel that way you get more of a say in who gets it and what size tank it ends up in. There are quite a few UK reefers on R2R as well, might be worth a try.

GL

Thats a good call i'll reach out through a fb group i'm part of, my LFS also manages some huge tanks for people so I may see if he wants to stick it in one of those

Agree. Which is a rough choice to make, but I think the right one. If the upgrade were closer, I'd side with keeping it, but as it is; that's a long time...

Yeah it is, and it's going in an as yet unbuilt house extension so 18 months could easily turn into 2 years if i'm honest

 

[DLHDesign]

Yeah it is, and it's going in an as yet unbuilt house extension so 18 months could easily turn into 2 years if i'm honest

Our new house breaks ground in a few days and we'll be building in a fish room after they are done (not a custom home per-se; just new-built) - so I totally understand how that works! Will also be re-homing some of my fish during the move; not looking forward to it...

 

[Claus84]

I would worry the manadrin being more lethargic might have nothing to do with the kole. Mandarins are poisonous and taste real bad to other fish so they really have nothing to worry about.

Is he fat or real skinny.. Usually when I see them get lethargic not moving around like they used to they are dying or starving.

Thankfully he is still a fairly chunky lad, I think its the intimidation factor more than anything. The tang is considerably larger and tends to swim right past the mandarin at high speed which just freaks it out a bit I think

 

[Claus84]

Our new house breaks ground in a few days and we'll be building in a fish room after they are done (not a custom home per-se; just new-built) - so I totally understand how that works! Will also be re-homing some of my fish during the move; not looking forward to it...

Ours was a new build and it seemed like forever waiting for it to be built (especially when living with the in-laws temporarily!) but its great being able to start with a blank slate, even more so if you get to add a fishroom once its done, sounds awesome! I'm planning to go for a 96"x28"(w)x24" (h) but may be able to stretch to a 108" if i'm lucky.

 

[Mr. Limpid]

That guys is gorgeous. Do what you need to do to save him.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I vote for a re home

#reefsquad ??

Yeah, with the upgrade that far off I'd re-home too.

Do you have a good community near-by you can reach out to gauge interest? I feel that way you get more of a say in who gets it and what size tank it ends up in. There are quite a few UK reefers on R2R as well, might be worth a try.

GL

+1
Better to rehome it and get another one later then to make that one suffer should it get to big for that tank

 

[shred5]

Thankfully he is still a fairly chunky lad, I think its the intimidation factor more than anything. The tang is considerably larger and tends to swim right past the mandarin at high speed which just freaks it out a bit I think

Yea he looks good... My kole was in a 75 and then a 90 and then a 125. When he was in the 75 he used to freak all the other fish out by swimming real fast. He used to prevoke my clarkii clownfish all the time and get stung by their anemone.. Sometimes it is not that the tang is unhappy in a smaller tank it what they do to the other fish since their territory is so big and they get huge and move fast.

 

[jsker]

Thankfully he is still a fairly chunky lad, I think its the intimidation factor more than anything. The tang is considerably larger and tends to swim right past the mandarin at high speed which just freaks it out a bit I think

Wow that is a nice Mandarin!!

 

[Swoody]

Beautiful Mandarin for sure...I can't understand why the Kole would even waste it's time bullying something that is sooo much smaller than itself and no threat food wise at all.....I'd make sure the Mandarin was kept in the DT and Kole re-homed as a 55g is no good place for him either, as he grows....

 

[Claus84]

Yea he looks good... My kole was in a 75 and then a 90 and then a 125. When he was in the 75 he used to freak all the other fish out by swimming real fast. He used to prevoke my clarkii clownfish all the time and get stung by their anemone.. Sometimes it is not that the tang is unhappy in a smaller tank it what they do to the other fish since their territory is so big and they get huge and move fast.

I think you have hit the nail on the head there!

 

[Claus84]

Wow that is a nice Mandarin!!

He is a handsome chap, he's from Biota, I have one of their coral beauty's too and am really impressed by the colouration and health of the fish they produce. Had the mandarin since Dec 2016 and it was barely an inch long, love watching it grow and fill out.

 

[Claus84]

Thanks all, it sounds like a unanimous vote for re-homing so I'll start looking into options. In the meantime the mandarin does still spend time hunting and eating frozen so it's in no imminent risk of dying but for its long term health I will remove the kole if the situation doesnt change in the next fortnight.

Just in case the mandarin is just being lethargic due to a lack of pods to hunt I added a load more last night so I will also see if this changes things over the next fortnight before making a final decision. It occured to me that although the kole doesn't specifically target pods it does graze the glass and rocks constantly and must consume a fair amount just as bycatch alone so that may be another factor at play

 

[jx fang]

I don't think you need to re-home that kole tang.
55 is big enough for a kole tang.
It's not always about the size of the fish, more important is the behavior.
Kole tang spends all day long grazing for algae, swimming between rocks only.
They don't swim straight lines like a hippo tang.

And are you sure that the kole tang can scare a mandarin?
My mandarin dragonet is the bravest fish in my tank.
She is never afraid of any fish, don't even bother to look at them.
She's kind like living in her own world, nothing bothers her.

 

[Claus84]

Hi all thought I would post a quick update. The Kole is still in my 90 with the mandarin, it is an absolute pest when I try to target feed the mandarin with frozen but I am training the mandarin to eat in some feeding pots that I used back when I first got him so it can eat in peace without the kole bulldozing its way in.

I have also set up an @PaulB mandarin feeder going which he loves and the kole is completely disinterested in so he is still fat and happy and not as reliant on frozen or pods.

Cheers

Nick

 

[Jesterrace]

Hi all, I've had a 3" yellow eye kole in my 90g reef for a couple of months now and its undoubtedly the boss of the tank. It occasionally spars with my flame angel and bangaii but they pretty much stick up for themselves. I've noticed recently though that my mandarin is a lot less active than it was, spending quite alot of time sitting in a corner. The kole is not overtly aggressive towards it, but being an active and fairly erratic swimmer i believe its stressing the mandarin out and want to act now before the mandy starts to lose weight.

I have two options return it to my LFS or stick it in my 55g fowlr (48x15x18) .

Fowlr is currently running fallow but my coral beauty and orchid dottyback will be going back in it, while these are both fairly capable of defending themselves I'm a little concerned the kole might lay the smackdown in the smaller tank. I hate returning fish to my lfs as I have visions of it ending up in a 3ft tank somewhere but will do it if its the best option.

It wouldn't be in the 55g indefinitely as I'm upgrading to a 280g but that's a good 12-18 months off.

I'd appreciate any thoughts

cheers

Nick

I'd get rid of the Kole. A 55 really isn't a good home for it long term and if you want to keep the mandy you will have to get rid of it. One of the things people fail to see about mandys in captivity is that the problem is two fold

1) Getting them to eat frozen foods
2) Getting them to eat Frozen Foods before the other fish gobble them up

The second part IMHO is actually the hardest part. I lost a mandy because of this.